Barber & Osgerby appointed to design Crossrail train

Barber & Osgerby has been appointed by Transport for London to work on the design of a new Crossrail train.

An early impression from Bombardier of how the Crossrail train may look
An early impression from Bombardier of how the Crossrail train may look

A single design solution will be rolled out across an entire fleet of Crossrail trains which go into service when the line opens in 2017.

Barber & Osgerby will form part of an integrated team working alongside TfL and Bombardier, which will build the trains at its factory in Derby.

Each train will be just over 200m long, made up of nine walk-through carriages and able to carry up to 1,500 passengers.

Key features of the high-capacity trains include air conditioning and inter-connecting walk-through carriages, while on-train passenger information systems will deliver real-time travel information to allow passengers to plan their onward journeys. 

The lightweight trains will be built with an emphasis on energy efficiency and to this end intelligent on-train energy management systems controlling lighting and air conditioning will re-generate energy back into the supply when braking. 

These features have already been determined and TfL says it will be Barber & Osgerby’s task to help TfL and Bombardier create a design solution. 


Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby say, ‘Crossrail presents TfL with an historic opportunity to create a design legacy for London.

‘London is the city that we both live and work in and we feel proud to have won this project. It gives us the chance to make a profound contribution to millions of commuters.’


Crossrail will run over 100km from Reading and Heathrow in the west, through new tunnels under central London to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east.  

TfL will introduce the new trains from 2017, with the fleet initially introduced to the existing rail network in advance of services commencing through Crossrail’s central section in December 2018.

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